Is Spotify's Million Signups Through Facebook A Marketing Game Changer?

Should Google and Apple be concerned with the huge jump in signups music streaming app Spotify experienced after it launched its Facebook partnership at f8 last week?

Sean Parker, Facebook's first president and shareholder, has found a great way to market the new music service he has invested in – one that shouldn't have the problems of his first, Napster.

Despite complaints about the app limiting its signup through Facebook, Spotify seems to be embracing the growth of social networking media and turning it in to success. It gained over 1 million new users since f8 a week ago, Inside Facebook reported.

"Zuckerberg likened the three major versions of Facebook to a conversation with someone you've just met. The initial Facebook had one photo, no wall, and was just the first five minutes of an introduction; this is who I am, nice to meet you. The second version, launched in 2008, was the next piece of the conversation: this is what I've been up to. This latest Facebook, he says, is a way to express who you are."

Who you are is a consumer. Facebook is showing it wants to know all about you so it can market to you more effectively – something big brands and marketers also want. Add the Spotify numbers and Facebook's advertising department must be getting inundated with calls right about now.

This shift has been developing over the past couple of years and is most probably the reason Google+ was launched. But no one could have forseen the actual numbers Spotify gained in a few days. Apps that used Apple and Google to get users may now be moving to Facebook – gaming company Zynga has been aware of its pull for some time, as has others like BranchOut and Quora.

Interestingly, a discussion on Quora, prior to the launch of Google+ when it was still being called Google Me stated it "will not be necessarly a new social network but a way to leverage the real social network that Google users already have and integrate in what Google already offer".

Google+ just passed 50 million users, so its reach right now is way below the 750 million plus members Facebook can offer marketers. Increase in advertising and partnership revenues will tell how popular this new marketing method at Facebook proves to be.

About the author

Frank Watson has been involved with the Web since it started. For the past five years, he headed SEM for FXCM -- at one time one of the top 25 spenders with AdWords. He has worked with most of the major analytics companies and pioneered the ability to tie online marketing with offline conversion.

He has now started his own marketing agency, Kangamurra Media. This new venture will keep him busy when he is not editing the Search Engine Watch forums, blogging at a number of authoritative sites, and developing some interesting online community sites.

He was one of the first 100 AdWords Professionals, a Yahoo and Overture Ambassador, and a member or mod of many of the industry forums. He is also on the Click Quality Council and has worked hard to diminish click fraud.